Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of transportation technology, and more specifically aircraft technology, and still more particularly to disc-shaped turbo-jet aircraft having a peripherally distributed propulsion system and stabilizing gyroscope.
Background Discussion
Lenticular and disc-shaped aircraft, when compared to alternative configurations, offer an efficient airfoil, a potentially more stable platform when employing peripheral thrust, a lower amount of drag, and a lower radar profile, all while providing direct vertical and horizontal movement options. However, of the countless disc-shaped aircraft for which patent protection has been sought, none have achieved commercial success. What the prior art of fifty years in this field has taught us is that there is a substantial collection of disc-shaped aircraft designs (flying saucers) that won't fly. This failure is concealed in patent applications by the calculated absence of any performance data that would predict a functional future for the designs—i.e., actual utility beyond that of an exotic landscape ornament. This is because they have never overcome the historical power/weight problem—that is, how to provide a disc-shaped aircraft with sufficient power to lift its weight off the ground. In almost all instances, the weight alone of the proposed power plants for these aircraft precluded any reasonable expectation of flight. The resulting patents have made their named inventors stakeholders in some undefined future technology that will confer credibility to the general concept by achieving actual flight.
Buried in the graveyard of good ideas are the many disc-shaped airframe designs disclosed in the following patents: U.S. Pat. No. 3,045,951 (to Freeland); U.S. Pat. No. 3,933,325 (to Kaelin); U.S. Pat. No. 6,382,560 (to Ow); U.S. Pat. No. 3,065,935 (to Dubbury, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 3,082,977 (to Arlin); and U.S. Pat. No. 3,514,053 (to McGuiness), all of which are hereby incorporated in their entirety by reference herein, along with all other references cited in this application. As noted, the failure of these designs is likely attributable to the failure to address and overcome the power/weight problem recognized long ago by Wilbur and Orville Wright and Igor Sikorsky.
The foregoing patents reflect the current state of the art of which the present inventor is aware. Reference to, and discussion of, these patents and other patents herein is intended to aid in discharging Applicant's acknowledged duty of candor in disclosing information that may be relevant to the examination of claims to the present invention. However, it is respectfully submitted that none of the above-indicated patents disclose, teach, suggest, show, or otherwise render obvious, either singly or when considered in combination, the invention described and claimed herein.